


Doesn't Like Pack Dynamics

by skyunicorn



Category: Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe, F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-19
Updated: 2015-06-25
Packaged: 2018-02-13 19:10:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 19,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2161857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyunicorn/pseuds/skyunicorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy is stuck working at a gas station while waiting for Jane to come back to Earth. It’s pretty boring work and Alphas are annoying to deal with. Steve Rogers, a boy she kissed back in Beta school, has grown up into a giant alpha. Also, she doesn’t know he’s Captain America.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Darcy stood behind the bullet proof glass, breathing on it and drawing mustaches at customer face level. The manager really needed to call the heater guy again, because it was day three of cold shifts at the Quick Mart. Luckily for her, it meant a slower shift as well. Fewer people came inside the station to buy things. They opted instead to grab their gas and go.  


Darcy pulled her cardigan tight and put her fingerless gloves back on. Soon the scarf would be around her neck again. Maybe she would light some cigarettes for warmth. Jane had better get her butt back on Earth soon. Darcy was tired of keeping time sheets. And being nice to customers. And having to deal with alphas hitting on her constantly. And having to be nice to alpha customers that hit on her.  


Speaking of alphas, another hulking mass of one was blocking out her view of the sun. The light shined around his shoulders, leaving him in silhouette. A muscular silhouette. What the frick? His shoulders had shoulders.  


_Here we go again._  


“Paying for gas?” Darcy put on a plastered smile. The whole, ‘What can I do for you’ question had been blown to hell the first week. It seemed no alpha was capable of stopping themselves from asking for a blow job at every chance.  


“Uh, yes mam.” The man replied after a pause that left Darcy’s smile strained. Polite. It was not the usual tone for an alpha of his size.  


“Which station?” Darcy asked, because the word ‘pump’ was also banned. In the first hour, and the guy had not even been an alpha. Just another douchebag beta. She had dated a few of those.  


“Darcy?” The man’s voice went high at the question. Stepping closer exposed his face to Darcy. He was a blond haired, blue eyed piece of apple pie. _Way_ too muscly pie. Ken dolls wished they had than jawline.  


“That’s what it says on my name tag.” That was not _too_ sarcastic, right? She hated this line.  


The man smiled sheepishly. Was this freaking alpha blushing? Seriously, was he going to be adorable to brush off the creepy ‘use your name like I know you’ gag for hitting on her? What she really hated, was that it might just work. Except that he was an alpha, so screw that. However, Thor did manage to not be a creep. So maybe she should pretend like she was not toting a log-sized chip on her shoulder. Be nice. Flirt back like she kind of wanted to. Not be a hippocrit and prejudge alphas.  


 _Yeah, no._

“Right,” The blonde laughed making his eyes crinkle. “Don’t exactly look the same.” The guy looked down before meeting Darcy’s gaze again. His face and voice were not ringing any bells in Darcy’s head. She hated admitting to herself that it was a little disappointing. “I’m Steve.”  
Realization dawned on Darcy as the nose and eyes started to match up with a memory. Those lips. She  
felt like a dolt for not recognizing the first guy she kissed. She tried to say something to stop her awkward slack jaw pose.  


“Scrawny Steve?” Darcy’s voice pitched high before she cut herself off by clamping her mouth shut and biting her lips. It was a nickname he no doubt did not like. She was screwed. Trust her to drop an awkward bomb on the first civil alpha she had interacted with today.  


Steve began his reply with a chuckle and continued the shy act. “Yeah, doesn’t quite apply these days.” He waved his hands in the general direction of his torso.  


_Is that a ten pack?_  


“No!” Steve awkwardly covered his abs before forcing his hands to the side. She had not meant to say that aloud. Two more points for her.  


“Sorry. Rude. How are you doing?” Darcy tried to go back into casual mode. No big deal. Cute, scawny beta had turned out to be a hulking alpha. No big deal.  


“It’s okay. Most people react like that.” Steve tilted his head and looked briefly to her left. “Though, usually they are too afraid to call me scrawny.”  


“Yes, well, bullet proof glass can give serious confidence.” Darcy put her hands on her hips and shifted her weight.  


“I guess so.” Steve looked back at her. Her face, not her body. Something that Darcy appreciated greatly. Jane was going to get an earful about the sexual harassment her assistant had to endure while Jane had been off in Wonderland.  


“I, uh, fix things. Kind of a maintenance job.”  


“Like a Mr. Fix It?” Darcy asked. She had suspected ‘overpaid pool boy’ to be on his resume.  


“Yeah, it’s not quite like that, but close. We take care of emergency situations.” Steve’s eyes darted and his voice slowed at the last two words. Darcy figured that meant illegal emergencies and the messes probably involved bodies. This made more sense to her, because that was a lot of muscle for cleaning. Not too much muscle for the mob.  


“Cool. I used to do science things. Now I do cash handling things. Not too exciting, but it pays the bills. And I’m a shitty waitress, turns out. So here I am.” Darcy shrugged at this. She used to have a job that was cool to talk about. Now, she told people about the weirdoes that came into the store. The weirdos got pretty samey after a while.  


“Sciency things?” The blonde man raised an eyebrow at her.  


“Yeah. Star Stuff. Hoping I’ll get back to that soon. Boss is—“ _Off planet_. “—out of town.”  


“Rogers! I’m not getting any gas out here. Did you pay?” A curvy red head popped her head in the door. She was wearing a black hoodie and cargo pants. The dorky glasses did nothing to hide her pretty face.  


 _Taken. Good. Don't have to think about it._

“Oh, almost. Got side tracked.” Steve waved back.  


“Get on it, Rodgers. This is going to cost you hot chocolate.” The woman walked over to the cappuccino machine.  


“Twenty on two and one hot chocolate, I guess.” Steve slid his money into the slot. When Darcy opened the tray, she got a whiff of Steve’s scent that clung to the money that had been in his wallet.  


It was… not offensive. Kind of spicy. Luckily there was a red head to keep her brain off of that path.  


“Well, safe travels and good luck with the hot red head.” Darcy said with a slight smirk once she had made the change.  


Steve looked confused before he made his way to the door. Eyebrows tried to meet his hairline before he said, “Work only.” That laugh again. “Have a good day. Bye, Darcy.”  


_Don’t tell me that._  


“Bye, Steve.”  


***  


“Did she call me hot?” Natasha teased once they were inside the van once again.  


“Or, she could have been talking about the cute red headed girl at school.” Steve avoided looking her in the eye.  


“Whatever, old man Charlie Brown.” She put the van into gear. “Who was she?”  


“A girl from high school.” Yes, those road signs were _very_ interesting.  


“Uh huh.” Steve hated that tone. It was such a sibling's voice. Somehow it was both annoying and made his heart ache at being an only child.  


“I was kind of always afraid of her.” That was the truth. Darcy had been very intimidating throughout junior high and freshmen year. She was kind of nerdy, but had a way of taking charge in team efforts and class activities. He had also admired her. Darcy did not put up with people being picked on. When she came to their school, Darcy had told Carol that holding someone down to kiss them was creepy and not a funny game. The kids lost interest more than had a moral epiphany. Either way, Carol left him alone. 

“Uh huh.” He did not have to look to know there was a grin on her face, but he still checked. Natasha’s smug grin only widened as Steve tried to let the conversation die. His sigh melted into a light chuckle. She won. She always won.  


“My first kiss.” He watched her at the corner of her eye for a reaction.  


“In high school?” Natasha raised an eyebrow, but kept her eyes on the road.  


“Okay, first good kiss.” Carol did not count. She had basically just decided they were going out and assaulted him in class with kisses while everyone laughed.  


But Darcy... Yeah she was something else. It had been spin the bottle or seven minutes in heaven or something. She probably did not even remember that. Kissing Scrawny Steve in a closet and being found in a compromising position was probably not the highlight of her school days. 

“Oh.” The single syllable rolled around in Natasha’s mouth until it ended in a smirk.  


“It was just high school, though. Before muscles and stuff.” The last he added with sarcasm that should have made Natasha proud. She seemed unimpressed.  


“Oh yeah. You've clearly been raking in all the mates with those.” Natasha replied. Showing him how a pro handled the art of sarcasm. This topic. Steve would be lying if he did not admit to himself that her comment hurt a little.  


“We’re busy. Stuff to do. People to save.” People to not endanger in the first place.  


“Doesn't seem to stop your teammates.” This included her, which made the words sting more, somehow. “So back to this girl.” Natasha returned to the topic after Steve tried to distract her with brooding silence.  


“Eh, she’s from beta school anyway. Not really interested, probably.” Steve shrugged and hoped that would end it.  


“How very _old school_.” There was a coolness in her tone that made him immediately regret that method of blowing her off.  


“Sorry, I really didn't mean—“ Steve tried to ameliorate her sudden foul mood.  


“I know. So maybe you should actually consider it before blowing it off.” She softened her tone when she added, “Wasting time thinking it wouldn't work out? Sucks.” Natasha knew this from experience. So to blow this sentiment off would be a further affront to her relationship.  


The red head let Steve stew in the silence of that for the rest of the drive.  


Well, until they started to get shot at.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha, can you tell I have a dumb tumblr for GRE words in fanfic.


	2. Chapter 2

Making pots of coffee was not the most exciting part of her job early in the morning. Inviting a current boy toy to hang out before he went to work really seemed to speed up the process. Legs pulling the guy closer and wrapping around his waist was not the position she cared to be caught in by the tinkling of the door. The locks were timed. So they must have been making out longer than she thought. She peeked around soft spiky hair to give a foxy apology to end all apologies. She was good at buttering up customers when she wanted.

The wolvish grin was wiped off of Darcy’s face once she saw who was at the door. The look on the tall, all-american man’s face made Darcy pat her guy on the shoulder and slide off the counter.

“Guess it’s time to work. Out you go, cutie.” That pet name totally was not because she had forgotten his name, nope. A peck on the cheek and Darcy was alone with Steve. That look on his face was too intense. Darcy was starting to think that sending away a witness was not the best idea. She smoothed her skirt down over her tights to busy herself in the silence.

Steve said nothing. Damn alphas.

“What’s in your craw? Cute red headed girl didn’t accept your Valentine?” Darcy said while hopping back onto the counter. She was short and appreciated any assistance she could get in evening out the height distance between her and the alpha. The comment earned her a smirk. At least, she hoped it was that and not from the way alphas seemed to enjoy being the strongest people in the room. Steve really had not been that type of person in beta school. Heck, he was the kid who got beat up defending kids twice his size.

“No cute red headed girls at my school.” His eyes were still holding her with a heated stare. His forehead was no longer wrinkled with concentration. So that was good. Nostrils flared before he continued slowly, “I thought you were a beta.”

Oh shit. Hot make outs did make Darcy's scent apparent despite her medication. People assumed weak alpha or omega. Neither boded well for her. She had not realized she was _that_ into the kiss with boy toy. Steve seemed genuinely confused. Which was better than that initial look. That look had made her feel a bit like she had been caught having sex in church. Something she had never experienced, but Darcy assumed was a more traumatic version of being caught making out in a confessional—something she did have personal experience in. Maybe Steve did not work for the mob and was still that sheltered kid she knew in high school. Now he just walked around in a refrigerator sized body.

“I thought _you_ were a skinny little beta boy. Imagine _my_ surprise. One of our transformations is more impressive. You look like the Hulk.” Internally, Darcy was giving herself a high five on that comment. Steve or not, making fun of alphas was fun stuff.

“I look nothing like the Hulk.” Steve rolled his eyes. Took his super heroes seriously, then? Yeah. Scrawny Steve would be the type to appreciate those with super strength sticking up for the every man. He had reached the coffee section. His size was somehow more intimidating because she could still see the smaller boy he used to be.

“Not the point.” Darcy squared her shoulders to bring her height up a bit more. Had he grown since last week? Then Darcy realized she was posturing in response to his size. Ew. Posturing was something alphas did to one another.

“Yeah, well I grew up. Things happen… You don’t…” Steve is giving her little more than a foot of space at this point. Darcy resisted the urge to tilt back her head to look down her nose at him. She really wanted to be able to assert some semblance of dominance in her own place of work. Steve’s nostrils flared.

“Smell.” Darcy supplied flatly. Steve was assuming the alpha posture. Stiff shoulders and chest puffed out. “It’s the twenty-first century, asshole. I don’t have to be a horny baby maker if I don’t want to.” Darcy’s tone was no longer playful. That chip on her shoulder was flaring up. This was a conversation she was quite tired of having.

“Right.” The blush returned Steve’s face. It lightened the tension, but he was still standing close. Too close for Darcy’s comfort.

“Back off, alpha male.” Darcy kicked at him and stubbed her toe on his thigh. “Ow. You jerk.” Darcy quickly blinked away the tears of pain. Stubbing a toe was an awful way to start the day.

“Sorry.” Steve backed up quickly as Darcy hopped down from the counter, favoring the foot she struck him with. It had been like kicking a concrete wall. “Really, I’m sorry. It’s not my business—“

“No it is not.” Darcy crossed her arms. Steve took another step back in response to her stink face. “Did you _need_ something?”

“Gas again.” Steve said with a shrug after a short pause in which his mouth opened and closed a lot.

“You know they have card swipes out there, right? Cards like money, but plastic. You don’t have to wait until open.” Darcy turns and fixes herself some coffee just to spite the blonde alpha. It also allowed her to get away from that look. Even when he cooled down there was an alpha heat in his eyes she did not like.

“Yeah, well maybe I needed coffee and—“ Darcy looked back to see Steve reach out blindly to grab an orange box. “Baking soda? Yeah, got to clean stuff.”

“Big emergency down at the tile factory? Got to build a quick baking soda volcano?” Darcy smiled despite still being pissed about having her morning make out call interrupted. She straightened her mouth into a line before turning around.  


“Oh yea, it’s a doozy. I've got Mr. Clean on speed dial. Probably going to have to call him in.” The serious business expression Steve maintained forced Darcy to hide her laugh in the cup of coffee. Steve’s shoulders relaxed and they stood in a much less tense silence as Steve made his own cup of coffee. He put in plain creamer. That seemed about right for him. Then Darcy saw him subtly reach for the bin again. Was he trying to sneak a hazelnut creamer? Too tough for sweets? Darcy looked away when his head began to turn towards at her. Another sip of coffee hid her smile.

“Better get into the office.” Darcy pushed away from the counter and went into the cashier's room with the register.

“You’re not _seriously_ going to buy that are you?” Darcy questioned when Steve sent the baking soda box through the slot.

“Emergency.” He smirked and winked before sliding the money through the slot. Always crisp new bills? Maybe she should not rule out mob involvement.  


“Well, get Mr. Clean’s autograph for me.” Darcy stopped from winking back. No need to flirt with this one. No matter how disarming he could be. Still an alpha.

“Will do.” He saluted with the hand holding the baking soda and his receipt.

***

“She’s got a guy.” Steve reported when he returned to the SUV. The coffee he handed her was supposed to distract her from his next statement. “I kind of went a little alpha on her.”

“Steve.” Warm reproach was in the woman’s voice “You didn’t.”

“I did.” Steve grabbed his ball cap to put on and pulled it down a little over his eyes. “She was making out with him.” It was still and hour until sunrise. Steve was thankful because he did not think his cheeks could get any more red. “It was heated.”

Natasha’s deep throated laugh only heated his cheeks more. “Seriously, hot make outs at six A.M. and you aren’t going to maybe check out if she’s single in a few weeks?”

“Well” Steve choked on a nervous laugh. “I may have ruined that with my little episode.“ Steve shook his head, ashamed and embarrassed. “When I opened the door there was a scent.” Steve bit his lip. “It wasn’t strong. She must be on suppressants. I guess she was a late bloomer like me.”

“Wow, so you bust in on her make out session and go all ‘zugg-zugg my omega’ on the boyfriend? Did you break anything?” Natasha was a little too amused at this embarrassing incident. More and more, his old crush was becoming his adopted big sister.

“No, she just sent him away. I don’t know. I got in her space. She might have sprained a toe kicking me.” Steve tried to lighten the mood. His mood needed lightening. Natasha thought the whole thing was hilarious.

“Ouch. Breaking a poor girl’s foot with your—“, Natasha’s voice became breathy as she laughed her way through the rest. “—rock hard body. Bad for PR.”

“Don’t tell Stark.” It was the first thing to come to Steve’s mind. That man truly knew how to milk embarrassing moments for all they were worth. The ego part of his brain must have overwhelmed the part that held embarrassment, because Tony Stark could not be embarrassed. Even when caught with his pants _literally_ down, that man just put on a little reverse strip tease. Luckily, Pepper existed to save him from walking down that path. She was a saint. The thought of it sent Steve’s blush to his ears. He was so thankful for the dim morning light.

The gasp from Natasha drew Steve’s attention. Natasha’s eyes were wide and her mouth was open in a rare toothy smile that slowly drew the corners of her mouth up along with her eyebrows. Complete and utter delight let Steve know that the thought had not even occurred to her until he mentioned it.

“No.” Steve started, but only caused Natasha’s mouth to close into a smug grin. “No, No. Come on, please.”

“Oh, don’t bother begging. You know that won’t work.” Natasha was trying to conceal her glee. Obviously, it was not to the best of her abilities, because her cheek kept quirking with a grin. “This is obvious black mail material. When I ask you to ‘check your footing’, I own you. Remember that.”

Steve sighed because he knew she was right. Black Widow would not use this power for ‘real’ evil. It would only be big sister levels of evil. He would probably be stuck hauling her gear at some point, or waxing her car. Probably both.

“So why’d you break like that?” The casual tone took him from his pondering of possible future ways he would be exploited.

“What?” Steve tried to stall while his brain got back on track to the conversation.

“You don’t usually go all tough guy on every omega we run into. Last I recall, you threw two guys into the Atlantic defending an omega hostage in heat. And you carried him to safety, no qualms.” Natasha turned off the headlights as they parked in a dark alley under a bridge to do surveillance.

Steve remembered that mission. The kid had been scared. It was probably his first heat. It had set off a little rage monster in his chest, that could rival the Hulk, when he saw the too goons trying to undress the omega. Honestly, he had thrown them overboard to save them from himself.

Since super soldier eyes still did not auto adjust to low light, Steve took advantage of the private feel of the dark to be a little more honest with Natasha. She was somewhere between sister and best friend. Awkward since his best friend had recently risen from the dead. So it was a rare opportunity to have an open conversation with her.

“I don’t know. It’s like going to shop for cologne. Most of them do smell great, but they aren’t for you.” Steve resisted the urge to tell her never mind and to stop the conversation. Captain America, leader of the Avengers, was afraid of talking about feelings—his feelings, anyway. “But when I walked in, the smell was so light. I just wanted—“, Every word he came up with was inadequate or weird. So he just picked the first one eventually. “More.”

The silence was far more comfortable than he could have imagined after that confession. “Why do you care so much?”

“Steve, I’ve tried to set you up with almost every single person at S.H.I.E.L.D. and you blew me off. This is the first you had the desire—or maybe the nerve—to ask out and it’s a bust.” Natasha slumped in the driver’s seat after undoing her seat belt. A huff escaped her pretty lips in the silence.

“Yeah, well the last girl I liked was taken, too.” Steve gave a good-natured wink when she looked at him with a sad expression. It brought the cocky smirk back to her face. He looked off at the door of their target as he went through the list. “And the last guy. And my not-dead boyfriend, who decided he liked my winged buddy post-brainwashing.” The joke in his eyes died. Steve’s shoulders sank and his face went to a blank slate. It was _really_ pathetic when he said that aloud.

“Ouch. I didn’t know Bucky and Sam were now a thing.” Lips twisted in a grimace. Maybe she was as sorry as he was to have plowed down this conversation path.

“They don’t really know they’re a thing.” There was more heat in the statement than he really felt. He was happy they had found each other, but it poked at a wound that gave him pangs of jealousy for what they had. Something he and Bucky did not quite used to have. “But I might get ‘die a beat us’ if I spend too much time with them. Not really what I expected from the Winter Soldier.”

“Look at you throwing around jokes from the internet. We may just be able to get you into this century yet, old man.” The joke had the intended effect of lightening the unease in the dark of the van.

“I’m younger than you.” Steve always felt the need to remind her.

“Never thought I’d say this, but you should start acting like it.”

“What can I say, I’m a man out of time.” Steve liked the term Loki had used for him. It seemed so appropriate and just fit him.

“You’re a kid who watched way too much TV Land growing up.” Natasha stopped herself mid eye roll. It was a habit she had started when they were alone together. Since she was a super operative, she did not like having mindless motions betray her thoughts. So Steve got to watch a pro try breaking a habit. He really enjoyed being a hindrance to the effort.

Steve raised a finger as he instructed, “The all-American babysitter for alcoholic parents everywhere.”

“We wouldn’t want any less for the future Captain America.”


	3. Chapter 3

Darcy had set up the wine glasses, booted up her queue of action movies, and left her apartment ready for guests. What’s-his-face the beta, her phone informed her his name was David, had never called after their make out interrupted. It was too bad, he was a good kisser. Another potential beta boyfriend scared off by the nearest alpha. She wondered if this was a problem all non-scenting omegas faced. As soon as your scent slipped a little and you were assumed to be an omega that was just biding time slumming it with a beta until they came along. They attempted to sweep her off her feet with lines like, “I could fuck you right through one of those bathroom stalls.”

Fucking alphas.

This did mean Darcy would be able to participate in her favorite Valentine’s Day activity: getting drunk and watching action movies. If Jane and Thor were planet side, they would have been the first couple invited along. Though it was a singles only event, she had yet to watch any bad blockbusters with Thor. Someday they would sit down and watch ‘300’ together. Darcy needed that experience in her life.

Keeping a list of movies and television shows Darcy wanted to share with Thor eventually helped her through the boring afternoon portion of her shift. Darcy was writing down ‘Vikings’ when her phone chirped with a notification.

Text from Marie:

                Can’t make it tonight

                Sorry

                Double date with that guy from the gym! :D

Reply:

                “Bailing on wine and Die Hard???”

                Worse Jackys going with me

Darcy nearly chucked her phone at her bad luck. What were the chances that Marie’s work out guy happened to have a lesbian friend for Jacky, too? Probably greater than that of hitting a Norse God in the middle of the desert.

Text from Marie:

                Sorry1!!!

                Its last minuet

                Just happened

                Love you forever

                Will buy chocolat

Hell yeah she would be buying her chocolate. The only thing worse than being alone on Valentine’s Day was being _alone_ on Valentine’s Day. It was just her and Mr. Willis tonight. Bruce was a guilty pleasure. The movies were so alpha. Every friend she confessed to that Die Hard and its sequels were her favorite movies was shocked. It was particularly bad if they were Omega Rights Advocate friends. At least once, it had made them become ex-friends.

Reply:

Not VDay chocolate

Love u too

Deets or I will switch coffee to decaf randomly

Probably around midterms

Near shift’s end the pity party had escalated to her life at large, right now. Darcy was beginning to accept her fate of being stuck at the college gas station for the remainder of her time in college. The pity party was over when she got the inter-dimensional call from her boss and besty.

Darcy threw handmade confetti from the receipt paper as she bounded out of the office. She slapped a confused co-worker’s hand with a high five to tag out. Within the hour, Darcy had her car loaded up with several poles that had mounted beacons. There was a dish remote that looked like a cheesy sci-fi ray gun and a laser that read temperatures. Having a ton of wired, blinking shit in her car energized Darcy. Jane was coming back. She was doing sciency things. No more gas station creepers. Now Darcy could go back to being a ‘huge bitch’ when alphas did the alpha thing.

The ecstatic feeling did not go away when she got to the bridge. It only moved over some to make room for confusion. Brown grass poked up from the road portion and vines dormant for the winter concealed all steel of the support structure. _Oh_ , and it was missing that joining section between the sides that made it a bridge. _Great._ It would just be awful if this were easy. The poles were supposed to connect to both sides of the bridge. Using the metal structure as both a conductor and sink since it was buried into the ground.

Darcy would not be deterred so easily. Armed with the first two poles, she moved to get out of the car. She was going to do some fucking science.

There was no visible way to the other side, but she hoped the solution would be more obvious once she was on the bridge. The sky was cloudy. So she had brought an umbrella. The juggling act probably looked comical in the light shower of rain. Especially with the Fourth of July colors in February bobbing around on her Captain America umbrella that was printed to look like his shield from the seventies. Her favorite Captain America.

There is a guy who is not a douche bag alpha. Probably. Certainly he is not a show boater like that Tony Stark who did not even bother to keep a secret identity. The most recent Captain America was still a relative newbie to the saving people game. He seemed bigger than past iterations, but so were all the major athletes. This one was supposedly a Super Soldier. Whatever that meant.

Cleaning away vines to attach the leads to the bridge proved to be quite the time sink on Darcy’s first attempt. The second one was much easier and she did not get any new cuts on her fingers. She had decided that wading through the river would be the quickest way to the other side. It was slow moving and looked to be only skin deep. Probably not her brightest idea, but the GPS said the driving way around would take at least an hour. The other bridge might even be out like this one. Jane was in space and Darcy was on the clock. So she was going to brave the cold.

Darcy debated the merits of boots protecting her feet from the cold water and rocks versus them weighing her down in the water. In the end, wet socks were the deciding factor that had her going barefoot. It would suck to do world saving science stuff with squishy socks. The cool sprinkle was not stopping. Spring was coming early this year. Out of sick curiosity, she pointed the laser temperature gun at the water.

Forty-five freaking Fahrenheit.

Pants rolled up, pikes tied to her back, Darcy made her way across the water. One hand directed the dish around the area to see if she was getting any green lights, and the patriotic umbrella bobbed with each dodge of sharp rocks.

“Haha!” Darcy exclaimed in triumph when she had navigated to the other side. She pulled out the temperature gun and proceeded to pretend to shoot rounds off into the air. Balancing the umbrella on her shoulder while play shooting definitely meant she looked like an idiot, but she did not care. Exciting things were happening again. “Pew pew!”

An actual, real gunshot rang in the air and Darcy tried to tuck and roll. Since she had been going uphill, she was pretty unsuccessful. However, she did fall into some foliage for cover. A second shot hit the river, spraying her boots with water.

“Dammit.” She hissed and twisted to get her umbrella which might betray her position. While folding up and tucking it close to her, she scraped an ankle on a fallen limb. “Ouch.”

World saving was less fun than when she had a partner. Seeing Jane alive and enduring shit too made the crazy less scary. Having her own assistant to make out with when surviving a giant ship falling out of the sky was also nice. Now she was being shot at. The sound of her pounding heart was her only company.

How the hell was she going to get these pikes up there?

***

Steve had just slipped into the security camera room when he heard the first shot over tinny speakers. This was followed by a chuckle from the man at the controls. Someone was tumbling on a bottom monitor. Steve’s fist connected with the back of the guy’s head too late and he heard a second shot. The figure was gone and Steve hoped the person who he assumed was Clint was okay.  


“I've got the gunner down.” Steve spoke into his wrist.

“Good. I think Hawkeye might need a little help with the hangar.” Black Widow mocked the archer at a whispered tone. That was quick.

“Almost got it.” Came the strained voice of Clint. “Ha!” The cheerful whoops were brought down to a reasonable decibel thanks to Tony’s high tech ear bud. “All clear.”

“Cap, go to labs. I’m working on the safe here in the director’s office.” Natasha’s voice came out calm, but distracted. Steve was already on his way to the stairs that led to the labs, but the distracted tone made Steve unhappy.

“Still?” Panted Clint.

“On the third layer of ten levels of security, dear.” There was only a hint of genuine annoyance in Natasha’s voice.

“Mission.” Steve reminded them. It was not just for his sake in not having to hear the cute back and forth. No cutsie talk on missions was a rule. It was a bad habit of Clint’s and something Natasha only did when she was distracted. Distracted was dangerous.

“Yep. On the fourth wall.” Natasha’s tone demanded no more interruptions. So Steve stopped the chatter. 

The stairwell echoed Steve's footsteps throughout the deep chamber. Tiptoeing in combat boots was difficult, but he had become fairly accomplished in the skill. Steve tapped the door to the floor holding labs. It had a quiet latch. So he moved into the hall in near silence. To his surprise, there were no guards or scientists in the halls. It was a Saturday. Somehow Steve had assumed those in secret labs did not work a normal nine to five. Perhaps regular business hours were part of tricking generally good people into doing your research.

Dr. Erskine said he was using some data from men who had worked in conditions similar to these. They were told the project was to improve longevity in humans. In truth, they were working on improving the longevity of Hydra armies and operatives such as the Winter Soldier.

And then there was Bucky, who was maligned in a program near identical to Steve's own. How had any of those scientists convinced themselves that electroshocking a ‘subject’ into obedience was okay? If he had not met and spoken to Dr. Erskine, Steve would probably have serious issues with scientists. As it stood he was still wary. Abraham said he saw something special in him, but Steve knew he was still capable of hating large groups of people.

He couldn’t.

When he saw Bucky, awoken from nightmares of being the Winter Soldier, he wanted to.

Steve had just turned a corner when he saw a gun slip behind the wall at the other end of the hallway. 

_Too much thinking, not enough observing._

Moving the shield off his back to his hand, Steve stepped silently down the hall. At the edge of the corner, he heard heavy breathing being held at bay. Shuddered near silent exhales were follow by quick, quiet gasps. Scared minions made Steve feel like the bad guy. It had been his experience that they were too scared to take the out when he extended them the opportunity, though. Fear also meant they were unpredictable and dangerous. He guarded himself with his shield and whipped around the corner.

There was only time enough for Steve to register the embarrassment at falling for the mirror trick before he began to feel pain.


	4. Chapter 4

Darcy had waited for the sniper to find her in the bushes. No more shots rang out.

"You can do this. Jane needs you right now." Darcy pepped herself up.

The rocks jutted out on this side of the river. Darcy had been able to slide down the lightly grassy area mostly on the other side. Her toes afforded her some extra grip. It was enough to propel her up the steepest few feet. She reached a sort of shelf of brown grass and to the right were dense shrubs and trees that grew up the side of the hill. There was a scrape on her foot she wanted to inspect before heading back up. It was not as bad as it felt in assent. A bruise was forming on the top of her foot, but the actual scrape was small. She was trying to determine if the thicket was actually a gentler incline or if it was just a trick of the trees when a door she had not noticed opened under the bridge. Darcy quickly backed into the foliage.

A man in a grey button up shirt and black slacks made his way down the path toward her. To Darcy he looked like an average security guard. There was not even a gun in sight. A walkie talkie was the only thing he was armed with. The previous gunshots did not exactly make her feel like testing the man's intentions. As she crept quietly further into the thicket, she felt extremely thankful for the pills that afforded her near scent masking. He was upwind from her, and he was a beta. However, it was still a comfort to know she was not a giant nose beacon. She still slid along to stay downwind of him.

The man stopped before the tree line. Darcy had crouched down and could only see his boots through the trees. It did not look like he had spotted her. Pressure in her chest built up as she held her breath. The walkie talkie made a squawk that sent a jolt through Darcy. There was a click and something mumbled on the other side of the trees. Darcy opened her mouth and slowly let the breath escape as silently as possible. The boots started walking back to the bridge. She muffled her sigh of relief into her fist, but did not breathe normally until the footsteps were out of hearing range. 

Getting back into a standing position was difficult, when trying so hard to be quiet about it. The spikes on Darcy's back were hard to move around the branches to avoid rustling them. Several times she felt like she was playing some championship limbo game. All her attention was above ground. So her heart stopped a moment when the earth disappeared from below her feet.

On instinct Darcy’s feet curled to find grip. Finding none, the flailing started. The dirt fell over her and a scream echoed up and around her as she was consumed in darkness. Darcy's body pitched forward and landed stomached first before her jaw hit cold metal. Then she was sliding. Her mouth tasted of iron as she grasped at the metal shoot's walls. A loud screech alerted her to the dish scraping at her side. The tunnel made a turn, jabbing the object into hipbone. Darcy gasped in pain, and then the tunnel left her. It was a short free fall before a soft landing.

Darcy just allowed herself to cry a few seconds in the brief softness. Her fingers felt foam and she blinked her eyes until she could see clearly. The foam respite was surrounded by a plain concrete floor for several feet. Then the iron bars started. Darcy was glad to see she had landed in an empty cage, because next to her were a pair of what looked like bobcats. They were much larger than Darcy had imagined the wild cats. They were also a lot more pissed than Darcy had imagined the cats.

They put grumpy cat to shame.  

Darcy laughed at that thought, but the sound caught in her throat when it flared up pain. The dish was in her side. She pulled it up and frowned. Through watery eyes she saw dish was bent. She was pretty sure that meant that she was not going to be getting anything done with this until she could fix it. 

"Please, Baby. Turn on. You can do it." Darcy crooned at the gun and tried to ignore the throbbing pain in her jaw, mouth, and side.

The thing did turn on. She was not getting signal. It was unclear if it was due to the fact that she was probably underground some unknown distance or because the dish was looking more like a piece of metal art shaped like a calla lily. She could just start crying again. All this way and she fucked up the controller.

When Darcy moved to get up, she did cry. The bobcats were distracted from a fight they were having with each other and moved to the shared wall of the cage to watch her. She checked her mouth and found it was her inner bottom lip that had been bit. It was luckily a small split, but it hurt. Her jaw was really tender, too. It was going to hurt tomorrow.

Darcy hoped she was going to make it to that sore jaw. 

A few slow deep breaths had her focused again on the mission. There were still two pikes stuck to her back that needed to be topside. She was going to have to bend this dish back into place or get something to replace it. First, she needed out of his cage. Walking hurt so much. Using the umbrella like a cane alleviated this some. On the other side of the bars was a lab. The cages were luckily meant for animals and were fairly easy to unlatch. A quick scan of the lab told her none of this stuff would suffice as a dish.

The computers were unfortunately all locked. So she would be moving on to execute her plan. Before exiting the lab, she looked over her shoulder at the two oversized cats.

"I'll come back for you, kitties. We will make sure Thor demands you are evacuated by the Avengers" She was too afraid to let them out on her own. Secret bases meant the Avengers would show up, right?

The dish slung on her back with the pikes, she walked with the thermometer like it was a gun. If she could not be dangerous perhaps she could look it. The look was undermined by her umbrella cane. Maybe she would just have to work to look like the guy from that British Avengers show. 

Is that where they got the name?

No one was in the hall but Darcy's progress was still very slow. It was difficult to keep the tapping of the umbrella quiet as she made her way. When she rounded her first corner she saw someone at the other end. Darcy ducked to the other side of a supply shelf on the corner.

"Shit" She breathed. It was not much of a hiding place.  No doors were near her. She looked at her temp gun and umbrella. It was not much to defend herself, but she had a plan.

***

Steve shielded his eyes from the pain. He moved his shield in front of his eyes and took steps back. 

"Captain America?" The person squeaked out. He dipped the shield down and found Darcy slack jawed.

"Darcy?" The shield slipped by his side, forgotten. She was out of place. She was holding some kind of short gun. Her mouth was now working as she tried to form words.

"I...huh? Sorry...eyes okay?" Darcy's head cocked to the side. "Steve?"

Steve wondered if she had X-ray vision with the intensity that she was staring at his cowl. This was a trick. He lifted the shield back up between them. "I thought you worked at a university or something." There did not appear to be anyone else in the hallway.

Darcy raised her hand and pointed an accusatory finger at him.

"And I thought you were a big scary repair man. Or some mob guy who killed people for a living and chopped them up into the river. Instead you're Captain Effing America." When Darcy dropped her hand to her side she winced.

It was really Darcy. Steve dropped the shield. "What happened?"

"Got into a fight with a trap door." She was being snarky, but her eyes were wet with pain.

"What type of weapon is that?" Steve tried to stick with things he was comfortable with.

"Not an actual super hero, just an assistant to one." She held his gaze for a minute, but then sighed and looked at the thing in her hand. “It’s a temperature gun. I can tell you how hot the guys you’re shooting are.”

“Whose—“

“Thor. Well Jane, but they are like a space team and I’m her assistant.”

This conversation was too bizarre. Thor was currently away on a personal mission. Steve looked over her dirty clothes and bare feet. "Why aren't you wearing shoes?"

"How about we focus on what I do have?" She turned slightly to show off two pikes on her back.

"What are those?" There were a lot of wires and LEDs attached to the pikes.

"Sciency stuff. I'm going to open a portal."

"Sciency stuff?" Steve repeated slowly and scrubbed his face with his hand.

"It's complicated. I have to stick these in the ground to produce a signal that I control with this." Darcy pulls a mangled looking ray gun from her side. "Except I can’t because I broke it with my hip. So I have to fix it. Then find a way to get up there." She points to the ceiling. "And stick them in the ground without getting shot. Otherwise, Jane won't be able to make it home with Thor."

"You know Thor?" Steve was still processing the rest of that information, but was stuck on this single point. 

"Yeah. Big blond alpha. Lot of muscles. Breaks mugs. Talks funny. Smells nice." Darcy adds the last bit of info with a smirk that brightens her face. Steve could feel his jaw tense.

 "Haven't really smelled the guy." Steve swallowed the spite he felt at hearing about Thor’s scent. It did not help that Natasha had also told him something similar. 

Darcy rolled her eyes. It is something she has done a lot in their interactions. It is something that usually annoys Steve, but apparently Natasha was going to have more over for the second person he had met which this was endearing. 

"Are you going to help me or not?" Darcy had grabbed the umbrella Steve now recognized as the shield he had thought was a mirror. She had a Captain America umbrella. Steve wiped the smirk off his face as she folded it back up. Both gunlike objects were hanging on her side and she was leaning lightly on the umbrella.

_She had a Captain America umbrella._

"I am." Steve straightened a little. There was a mission to think about here. "I am supposed to get a chip out of one of these labs. Have you seen anyone?"

"No, just two giant bobcats. Who knew evil scientists got weekends off? Think they get Columbus Day?" She started off in the direction behind him. The umbrella was tapping in step with him.

"Where are you going?" Steve turned as she hobbled past.

"To fix this dish." Darcy tapped the side.

"Why are you walking like that?" Steve started to follow her down the hall. Based on his briefing, this was the correct way to the lab with the chip.

"Because I broke this side on my dish." Darcy slowed a second. "I mean. I broke this dish on my side." Darcy stopped and lifted the hem of her sweater to show him. "Don't tell me how bad it is, I don't want to know."

A line of red and purple arced along her side where the dish must have somehow hit her. The surrounding area was growing pink as the bruise became more apparent.

"You shouldn't be walking around like that." Steve clutched at the air as he stopped himself from reaching out to inspect the damage more closely.

"Would you stop over a bruise?" Darcy squared her shoulders in the same way she had in the gas station. Steve stopped himself from responding in turn.

"No." The word came out curt as he flexed his jaw in annoyance. Before he could continue, Darcy cut him off.

"Good. I need something metal that is dish shaped. It could be a bowl or something. I'll just have to cut it and wiggle it on somehow. Hopefully the wiring is fine, but at least we're in labs, right?" Darcy moved along the hall faster now, with a scowl that tightened with each step.

They moved in silence, interrupted by Darcy's occasional wince and the opening of doors. Two labs left them with nothing and they were at a dead end. 

"Now what?" Steve asked the empty lab.

"I don't know." Darcy leaned against a wall. "You're Captain America, shouldn't you be Captaining?"

"Black Widow, the chip wasn't in the lab in the plans." Steve spoke into his wrist. "Also, I ran into a friend of Thor." He paused. Stopped himself from saying it was Darcy. He did not want the brunette to know that he and Natasha had been taking about her. Someone better at lying could brush it off as nothing but mentioning an old classmate. Not Steve. He had already been shot down when he saw the make out with the boyfriend, who was a beta no less. Steve _really_ did not like the part of him that kept thinking that was important. If he could avoid the embarrassment of her knowing his intentions that morning, that would be great. "She's got some tech we're going to need to fix."

"Hmmm...The room you’re looking for will have cages and maybe animals in it. Intel wasn’t clear on what was held there. Run into any rooms like that?" Natasha's voice was distracted. What kind of safe did the director have?

"I think so." Steve looked to Darcy. "Those bobcats in cages?"

"Yep, big cages." She was making light soothing circles on her side where the bruise was hidden under her sweater. Steve decided commenting on it again would get him nowhere.

"Alright, we might know the place." Steve spoke again to Natasha. "How's it going?"

"Layer eight. Clint reported some guys escaping down the stairwell. So be on the lookout." Natasha sounded unconcerned. They had seen very little action so far. Nothing particularly dangerous, for them, had come up. Which was good on a covert mission. They planned and reworked plans to make that happen. However, Darcy was here to bring Thor down and Steve did not know what trouble that would bring.

"Will do." Steve put his fist down and started walking back toward the windowed door of the lab. Darcy was only a few steps from where she was sitting when he turned to hold the door open for her. "We've got to get going a bit faster. We might have company soon." 

"I guess you better head off without me then, because I'm going at tortoise speed."

Steve's felt his jaw tighten as he thought about how to word his request. "We could get there really quickly if I were to take you there." He left out the word carry. The idea was already going to piss her off. So why not avoid it?

"No." Darcy's face was firm for the first few steps. She stopped and winced, hand going to her side. Darcy bit her lip, before letting out a heavy sigh. "Okay, done with the tough act. I'm actually a huge wimp. Just get me somewhere I can fix this stupid thing so we can get Jane."

***


	5. Chapter 5

Darcy had been doing pretty well about holding her own. But the chip on her shoulder could only keep the pain at bay for so long. Also, walking around wih possible internal injuries: dumb. 

She had gotten fifty percent off coupon from a regular at the store that owned a nail salon. So Darcy had gotten a Captain America shield pedicure. As she rode in The Actual Captain America's arms bridal style, she was both embarrassed and disappointed. The polish was chipping and Captain America, who it turns out was the dork in high school she had kissed at her first (and last) boy-girl party, had seen both her umbrella and pedicure. Also the scrape on her foot had turned all purple and was dirty. That could not be good. He did smell really nice, Darcy resigned herself to accepting this as fact. She liked Bruce Willis movies and maybe there was an ocassional nice smelling alpha. In her head, she could admit this. 

The bruise on Darcy's side throbbed and was starting heat up with inflammation. She kept working her jaw left and right to loosen the tension there. Thing were not going well. Darcy just hoped her internal organs would avoid freaking out until they could get Jane to safety. She had been excited about the prospect of adventure. Yet, she had not heard from Jane since that first call and text. It might just mean that was a one time magic-science thing. The silence made Darcy worry though. She thought the text had meant there would be further communication. 

"This one." Darcy pointed to the door on   his right. She had expected more large windows like the labs in movies. Giant lasers and pointy things. Instead, it was more of a college basement. Halls lined with blank cream walls and heavy doors with small glass windows. The labs had plain, and frankly, old computers. There was no equipment she did not recognize from her one required lab credit in college. 

Steve turned his back to the door and stepped through it backwards. Darcy tucked in close to avoid getting anything caught on the doorway. 

"Thanks" Darcy wiggled to get out of his  hold. Steve moved to set her feet first on the floor as he scanned the room. There were monitors near the cage she had fallen into and Steve made his way over to them. The door was still open to her cage. Hopefully nothing else had fallen through and escaped through the open door. She had not really been thinking about that as she exited this room.  

Now that she was looking around, she could see there was a lot she had missed. There was a silver colored plastic cone collar that might work. Darcy sat the remote on a work bench looking area of the lab along with the collar. She was getting less picky as time went on. The items accumulated on the bench. A metal sign that could be bent. Scraps of foil that might wrap around something. 

Darcy was pondering a beaker when she heard a growl. She looked up and saw exactly what she was looking for. There was a metal water bowl in the bobcat cage that was the perfect size. Only two pissed bobcats standing between her and the fix to save Jane. 

"Hi kitties," Darcy crooned as she approached the door of the cage. "Let me in to get that bowl, and I will get Thor to get you guys out of here. I know I already said I would do it, but I can't hold up my end if I'm dead." Of course they did not understand, but they were intimidated enough that they backed away from the door and her path to the bowl. 

"Nice kitties. In and out." Darcy slid through the door and made her way to the water bowl keeping her eyes on the two big cats. Her scraped ankle hit the bowl. "Ow. See, easy!" Darcy bent to get the bowl and looked up to see the two cats approaching and growling. 

"Darcy!" Steve said from behind the closed door. 

A bobcat hissed--and she was really rethinking that assessment, because these cats were the size of dogs. Darcy shot out an arm and kept eye contact with the one not looking at Steve. "Stop! Don't move." 

"Why didn't we discuss this brilliant plan before you ran off into a cage with wild animals?" Steve did not look at her, but instead looked at the bigger cat with raised hackles. 

"How about we discuss stupidness when I'm not in a cage with wild animals?" Darcy hissed and scooted toward the door. 

The cat Darcy had eyes on took a step closer and made a low growl. Its back feet began to wiggle. It was a motion she recognized from his smaller cousins she had as a kid. The readying motion made Darcy uneasy. It was preparing to take her down. The growl behind Darcy made her shoulders tense as she gripped the bars tight.  

"Just keep walking Darcy." Steve said from behind her. A hand touched her side, her good side thankfully. The cats had backed away at Steve's growl. 

"Yeah." Darcy breathed. She loosened her grip and leaned toward the door, willing her body to follow her and hopefully bring her feet along for the ride. She took a few steps toward the door and Steve walked behind her seething scent and agression. The big cats were definitely affected and backed furter away from the door. She kind of wanted to back away with them. 

"When you get to the door, wait. I'll open it for you." Steve instructed. His fingers brushed hers on the bars. It startled her. "It's going to be okay." The breath behind the words hit her ear. It was enough of a distraction to get  her moving again. 

"Yeah." Darcy took the step toward the door again. She stepped and Steve followed until she was beside the door. One of the cats was brave again. Hackles raised it began stepping toward Darcy. 

"Okay. Feel free to open it!" Darcy let a bit of the panic she felt slip into her voice. "Please?" 

"Yup." Steve was at the door and it was clanging, so she imagined he was fumbling with the lock. Had she latched it? Why would she do that? With his eyes off of them, the cats were more bold. A hiss then and one was smoothly slinking toward her. 

"Steve." It was a squeak. She hated it, but she really felt weak and pathetic right now. It had claws and teeth. Darcy had a bowl. 

"Hey!" Steve yelled at the cat as he opened the door. As if the words had a physical presence, the cat sank to the ground ears back. It hissed again, but there was not as much force in it. Steve put an arm out to Darcy and she took it allowing herself to be pulled out of the cage and away from the dangerous cats. One of them charged the door once it was closed, so much braver with the bars between them. Darcy was just exhausted.  

Darcy hobbled over to the table with all of her stuff. The bowl clanged on the metal tabel and she took a moment to breath as she began to work apart the dish from the remote. Steve was saying something to her, but she was not paying attention. That was stupid. How could she have been so stupid? 

Yeah, she was stupid. 

The original dish off, she began to cut at the bowl. Steve had stopped talking at some point. He was not behind her any more. Darcy did not look up to locate him. After tapping through a few holes in the bottom, she was able to get the clippers through and cut a circle the remote could slip through. 

Hands froze over the remote when she spotted it. The thing that was going to kill Jane. Her fuck up. 

Had she gotten the wire torn in her fall? 

Had she screwed the thing up when she pulled the off the dish? 

Jane was not going to make it back and it was her fault. 

*** 

Steve had just growled at a cat. He could feel the blood pulsing in his head. Directing her while keeping a calm head was difficult. There was no way he was going to get her over to the door without just going in and ripping the cats apart. This weird feeling told him she would not much appreciate that. 

"Yeah." 

Her voice was so weak. The smell of fear, her pounding heart. He recognized these things from the hallway. She jumped and he retracted his hand. Then he put it back. Her fingers gripped him back this time. 

The thing was growling at her. Another rumble came out of his chest. When they were finally at the door he ripped open the door, fairly certain he had messed up the lock. Then he had yelled at the thing. It rumbled in his chest where a heat was burning. An arm reached out to block the thing from Darcy. He was going to rip that damn things stupid pointy ears off. 

Then Darcy had grabbed his arm. 

They just needed to get out of there. They were just stupid animals. They were scared. Darcy was scared. He knew how to get them out of this place.  

So he did. 

 Perhaps hoisting her out of there had not been the plan, but it worked in a pinch. Darcy had walked straight toward the bench. Her feet were decidedly unsteady.  

"What were you thinking? How were you going to get that?" Steve's breathing was heavier than the exertion should have left him. Pointing to the dish Darcy was holding, he continued. "Who was going to put this back together if you got attacked by those things?" 

Darcy just nodded and cut at thedish. "Yeah." She was saying in a soft voice. "Yeah." Steve did not know what she thought he was saying, but she certainly was not listening to him.  

"Whatever." Steve needed distance. He would finish his part of the mission. He needed to breath. He checked the door as he moved back to the console to where the server was being downloaded onto a chip. Steve lifted his hand to speak to Natasha "Any word on those guys coming down stairs?"  

"Clint thinks he got them. I just got into the last layer, you almost ready?" Natasha replies. 

"Yeah, Darcy is putting back together the ray gun." Steve pointedly did not look at the woman. 

"Darcy?" The shriek came in his ear followed by cursing. "Steve you nearly lost me all of the this work. Don't sneak shit in like that." 

"Ow." Steve reached up to his ear, as if it could stop the sound from the ear bud by covering his ear. 

"Sorry. But seriously, Darcy. That Darcy? Your Darcy is Thor's Darcy?" Natasha was grinning right now. An evil sort of grin, Steve guessed. 

"Don't call her Thor's Darcy." Steve mutters. He had not meant to share that thought with Natasha either, really. The cage had left him shaken and his tongue loose. 

A light laugh came from the other side of the comm, "Sorry. Is your Darcy okay?" 

"Shut up. We got into a bit of trouble with a controller. A couple of giant bobcats down here. Other than that. Okay." Steve looked over at Darcy. Shoulders were no longer moving. She was frozen in place. 

Had she been hurt? 

Steve rethought that. 

Had she been hurt further? 

"Uh, just a sec." Steve spoke low to Natasha. He spoke up to talk to Darcy as he approached her table. "Darcy, are you okay?"  

She turned her head away as he approached. Steve moved his hand to the table instead of her shoulder. She made a soft noise that sounded a bit like a sob, but could have been a word. 

"Darcy?" Steve dipped his head. Something he had noticed his body did unconsiously to make himself less intimidating. Sometimes being a towering soldier could make being a human more difficult. 

Darcy straightened up and sniffed loudly before turning to him. "No." Her voice was firm and her eyebrows were knitted together. Steve's mouth opened to ask what was wrong, but Darcy continued, "I broke it. And I can't fix it. We're in some underground bio lab and I have screwed up a wire on the thing that was going to help Jane. Now it doesn't matter if I get this dumb bowl on. I've wrecked it." The laughing that punctuated her sentences was disturbing. It was hollow and tugged at his chest. He wanted to reassure her, but did not know if he could. They could genuinely be screwed.  

"Natasha what do you know about wiring?" Steve spoke into his hand. 

"Put her on the line." Natasha's voice was warm. 

"What?" 

"Take me out of your ear and stretch your hand out like a microphone." Her tone was not joking or derisive. 

Steve did as he was told. He pulled down his cowl. Darcy's brow unfurrowed and her shoulders were visibly less tense. Steve hoped his smile was reassuring. "I'm going to give you an earpiece, okay? Black Widow is going to help you with this."  The earpiece was not large but the cool on his ear canal made it itch. He could not stop the shiver and subsequent rubbing at his ear. 

"That bad, huh?" Darcy did not have the catty tone to match her remark. The panic was out of her voice. She studied it only a second before orienting it in her ear. "How does this work?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm taking tomorrow off. That is to say, only writing more first draft and not posting another chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

  
"Hello Darcy, I'm Black Widow. How bad is it?" A silky voice flowed from the ear bud.

"I have a snapped wire. I must have busted it when I crushed the dish." Darcy put on a stiff voice to hide some of the ache the words made her feel.

"I can't quite hear you, hon. Could you grab Cap's right hand and remind him he's supposed to be a mic?" There was a teasing tone to her voice that put Darcy at ease. It was probably the agent's familiarity with problems arising in dangerous situations. Darcy reached out and grabbed Steve's wrist. Without explaining, she reiterated what she had said into his wrist.

"Sorry." Steve whispered to Darcy. His breath ruffled her hair. Further distractions to put her at ease. Captain America Steve was much closer to who she imagined Scrawney Steve would grow up to be. At least, it matched his personality more than Steve the Gas Station Make Out Ruiner.

"Okay, we can totally fix this." Natasha's voice refocused her on the task at hand. "Do you have a lighter or some matches?" 

"No." Darcy scanned the area as she drew out the syllable. "Wait. I see a Bunsen burner."

"Hell yeah." Natasha cheered her on. "Now grab his wrist again."

Darcy followed the instruction and shrugged when Steve tilted his head in inquiry. "Okay."

"There should be a seam from under the back of his thumb to the end of his glove. Right around where that knob is on his wrist you should feel a bump." Natasha gave the instructions slowly. Darcy traced around the thumb of Steve's hand until she felt the tiny patch. She tapped it.

"Ouch. Yeah, you found me." Natasha sounded like she was in pain.

"Oh my gosh, are you seriously in his glove? Are you like the Atom or something?" Darcy looked at the glove in amazement and distanced her hand from it.

"Ha, no." The woman's voice was warm again. "Just startled me with that rapping, tapping in my ear. Now follow the mic to that seam."

Darcy traced the path with her middle finger. Her index finger smoothed over the surrounding fabric, searching. "Okay. If I put in a secret code is his chest going to pop open and reveal supplies?"

"No." Natasha chuckled and Steve's chest rumbled with his own laugh. Another puff of warm air hit her ear. "We'll talk about how to get him out of the suit later. Get a knife because you're going to need to start ripping the seam there."

Darcy pulled out an exacto knife and started at the task. She hoped she could keep it straight while holding back her laugh.

"Wait, what?" Steve nearly tugged away from her. An easy task, if he hadn't stopped himself.

"Tell him Tony hid parts in his suit." The agent said it like this was a normal thing. Like friends usually went around sewing bits of electronics into your clothes, just in case.

Darcy relayed the message.

"What? When?" Steve's face was one of extreme annoyance.

"Ages ago." Natasha's eyeroll was practically tangible in her subsequent sigh.

Darcy relayed the message.

"Is it in everyone's suit?" Steve's jaw did a little flex. Darcy was not sure if it was an action that meant he was in thought or annoyed. Perhaps both in this case.

"I took mine out ages ago."

"Nope, not playing telephone anymore." Darcy announced as she started popping the seams on Steve's glove. There was something shiny along the seam line.

"There is some solder under there. He's got a capacitor in his cowl and some really tiny batteries around his belt."

"How about a soldering iron?" Darcy asks. She's only half joking.

"Wait, there's more hidden in here?" Steve began to run a hand along the stripes on his stomach and star on his chest.

 "No soldering iron, but get that Bunsen burner over to your wire, or bring the wire near it." 

Darcy looked at the hose connecting the burner to a spigot in the wall. It was fairly short. "We're going to have to relocate. Come on, Mike." Darcy grabbed at Steve's wrist and carried her supplies to the Bunsen burner. Her heart was pounding. The fear rolling around with this new hope was equally discomforting in her stomach. "Okay. Ready."

"Right. Strip the plastic off of the wires. Enough that you can twist them together." Natasha instructed.

Darcy used the same knife she had used in popping seams to strip the wires. She was very delicate with the task. Possibly they could get more wire stashed somewhere, but she preferred not to risk it. The saudering was a godsend. As much as she hated it, she was going to have to shower the Iron Douche in love.

"Okay. I got something that looks like twisted wires." Darcy updated the woman.

"Great. Turn on the burner, keep the rest of the equipment as far away from the flame as possible. You're going to heat the twisted together part and saudering over the flame. Get where I'm going with this?" Natasha paused.

"I think so." Darcy responded slowly as she twisted the wires together. There was not a lot of room for error here. The calm that Natasha's reassuring voice and direction had brought over her was fading. The inner voice telling her how bad she had screwed up was getting louder.

"It's going to take some time to heat up enough." Natasha informed her.

"Where did you learn this McGuyver stuff?" Darcy inquired while delicately moving her arm into a more comfortable position to hold for lengths of time.

"Mmm...this particular trick I learned when rearming a bomb we had disarmed after it had been relocated from a school bus to a warehouse. Pretty just desserts, if I say so myself. Unfortunately, the bad guys were handcuffed a safe distance away when it blew up."

"Okay soldering is melting now." Darcy reported.

"Good. Run it over the twisted wire to ensure a clean connection." Darcy did as the woman told. Widow continued. "I hear you knew baby Cap. Don't respond. Secrets and all that. In payment for my tech support, I want dirt. S.H.I.E.L.D. files only keep bland facts. Coffee, wine, or ice cream?"

Darcy really liked this woman. "All of it looks good."

"Oh, that sounds like fun."

"I think I got it. Thanks for the help. Returning you to Captain America," They were using code names over the comm. It made her wish she had one as well. Darcy blew on wiring in an attempt to get it to cool. It was covered in gray soldering Darcy hoped would suffice.

"Okay, great job. We're going to get Thor and Jane back, okay? You just stick with Cap and we'll get you out." Darcy heard Natasha say before removing the ear bud and depositing it into Steve's open palm. She could not find her voice to say thanks.

"I'm going to check the halls." Steve patted her on the shoulder and checked for her acknowledgement before heading for the door.

Dacry was alone again with the pissed kitties and her thoughts. 

 

****

"How are we doing Widow?" Steve asked as soon as he closed the door.

"Hawkeye has been temporarilly distracted by a small group in the basement. I am done with the lock."

"There is a basement beyond the five lower levels?" Steve asked in disbelief.

"There has to be one secret you keep from your secret lab goons." Sarcasm must come to Natasha as easy as breathing.

"What kind of distraction are we talking about?" Steve checked both ways down the hall. It was as quiet as when he had first stepped onto the floor.

"Not too bad. Hawkeye already took out the guy with the flamethrower. It's looking like there isn't going to be anything to salvage. So we're just looking at an extraction job. He's safe for now, but they have him pinned up." Natasha was starting to let some of her concern bleed through. Clint was not in any immediate danger, and he could hold his own. However, there was had been a flamethrower and Clint did not report injuries during missions.

"How many?"

"Six. Four are keeping him pinned in. One is on the entrance. The sixth is working on getting him flushed out. He heard something about the ventilation system. There may be a seventh. The sixth may have someone from the labs helping him." Natasha slipped into a more formal mission tone. That was a little reassuring.

"What's the best path down?" Steve glanced back at the door to the lab he left Darcy in. He was not sure how he would handle getting Clint and Darcy to the top level.

"Go two floors below. At the end of the hall with the stairwell, there is a boiler room. To the left of that door is a panel. It will be tight for you, but you will fit if you go slow. Left, left, right.That will take you to an office where the sixth and possible seventh is at. There is a door between that room and the large room where Hawkeye is holed up. So it doesn't have to be silent, but make it quiet. They found him through his comm. So leave your earpiece and glove with Darcy." Natasha's voice dropped in a way that let Steve know she was smirking. 

"You going to lead her up to you?" Steve surprised himself at the casualness of his tone. Steve turned to make his way back to the lab. 

It did not work on Natasha.

"Don't worry, I won't bring her up here and braid her hair and tell her all your secrets, Cap. I'm a professional." Natasha purred over the ear piece. "That's something we're going to talk about over coffee or a bucket of ice cream."

Steve sighed heavily as he checked the labs a second time. The quietness of this job was unnerving him. He hoped Clint kicking serious ass was the reason for it.

"I'm going to inform Darcy. She was pretty panicked when she thought her equipment was ruined." Steve paused at the door. Last moment alone with Natasha. "Thanks for that. Really. It helped a lot." 

"Hey, you don't always cut wires to disarm a bomb."

"That wasn't what I was talking about. Thanks for that too." Steve smiled and looked through the window to see Darcy feeding the big cats through the cage bars. 

"I'll keep her safe, Cap."

Steve had a feeling that keeping Darcy safe was going to be a full time job.


	7. Chapter 7

“They were just hungry. I wonder if the labs aren’t just empty on the weekend. Maybe it’s been a while.” Darcy said while watching the big cats eat the kibble that she had found in a cabinet behind some mops.

“Standing a little close to the cage door there.” Steve tried to make it an observation. His face still said reprimand.

“Well, if you were a bad guy. My plan was to open the cage and hope the kitties wouldn’t attack me since I was nice enough to feed them.” Darcy was actually serious. She had been discussing it with the cats before Steve walked in.

Steve opened his mouth to comment, but then closed it and nodded his head. “Not the worst idea.”

Darcy smirks. Steve without a cowl was much more comfortable to be around than Captain America. It was easier to image high schooler Steve was just dressed up in Captain America gear with built in muscles.

“I need to give you this again.” Steve pulled out the ear bud and began to pull off his gauntlet. “And this.”

“Why?” Darcy dragged out the syllable as she tilted her head. The dish was working—or at least it came on and the dial was working.

“I’ve got to get an agent out from danger on the lower levels. Widow is going to get you to safety. There are cameras on the above level and it should be a clean shot.” Steve explained as he held out the ear bud.

“I’m going by myself.” The realization had made her voice small.

Steve fidgeted with the glove, folding in the thumb before rolling it into his palm. Steve’s lips thinned to a line. “She’s clever. Memorizes the layout of every place we have access to blueprints before we head into a mission.” He smirked. “And then commits all the layouts to memory as soon as we get there.”

A pause.

Darcy’s fingers hurt.

On the handle of the dish gun, her knuckles were turning white so she eased her grip.

“I trust her.” Then Steve added “Explicitly.”

Darcy held out her hand. When Steve placed the earpiece in her hand, a breath rushed out followed by a shuddering breath. She squared her shoulders and pushed out a more deliberate breath.

“I can do this.” Darcy was talking strictly for her own benefit, but Steve replied.

“Sure?” His lips curled into a pretty smirk.

“Sure, it’ll be fun.” Darcy shrugs.

Steve grined at this comment. A little too big of a grin for the joke, but maybe he was just happy she had agreed. The earbud felt more comfortable the second time around. She packed the tech back onto her body. Steve had frowned and said something about tight spaces before helping her.

“Oh!” Darcy winced as she moved her bad side a little too much. Being mostly stationary had made her forget about the injury. She hoped it truly would be as simple as Steve claimed. “I’m fine.” She reassured him while sliding on the glove.

“Testing.” The glove was comically oversized on her, and weirdly warm. She wondered if Steve ran a little warm.

“I can hear you, D.” Widow replied.

“Cool.” Darcy meant it both for the working weird walkie tawlkie and the nickname. Just a letter, but it made her feel more like she belonged on the team. That was something Darcy was fairly certain she did not want, but did give her the a little boost of confidences.

Steve and Darcy stared at each other for an awkward too-long moment. Darcy was waiting for him to head for the hall. When she opened her mouth to break the awkward, Steve opened his arms in the universal sign for ‘give me a hug’. He intended to carry her.

“Ugh.” Darcy complained, but complied. The walk back would be agonizing on her own power. Also, she was not really ready to admit this inside, but her inner child was screaming in glee to be carried by Captain America. Sure, it was also Steve—which was weird, but she was on a mission with _Captain Freaking America_. It almost made the injuries worth it.

“I’ll be quick. Hawkeye knows how to handle himself. We’ll be getting those pikes in the ground before you know it.” Steve reassured her. He kept a slower pace carrying her. The wounded skin on her side greatly appreciated his consideration.

“And doing sciency things with Jane.” She added.

The chuckle from his response rumbled against her side. It was a pleasant sensation. Being around Steve even in this shitty situation was surprisingly pleasant. Even if it was not going anywhere because he was an alpha, getting to know him more could be fun.

“And doing sciency things.” Steve’s confirmation echoed in the stairwell. Before setting her down, he had walked up the stairs to her door. Steve held Darcy’s hand covered in the oversized glove and spoke into the mic. “I’m on my way, Widow. I’ve got her to the stairwell door. You get her to a place she can save Thor.” Steve winked at her, then broke the eye contact once Darcy relayed Black Widow’s thumbs up. He was gone before Darcy could say goodbye.

“Are we alone?” Darcy laughed out loud at the seductive tone Widow put behind it. Then she winced, because laughing _really_ hurt.

“Yeah, just us girls.” Darcy said after realizing her nod means nothing to the woman in her ear.

“Excellent, now for your mission. I need you to go up two flights of stairs.”

Darcy looked up and saw half a set of stairs. “I can’t do that, Dave.” Her robotic computer voice wasn’t that great, but she needed more distraction from the pain. “I’m at the top-ish. There’s a little half level or something above me.”

“Oh, he basically left you at my doorstep.” Widow had a purr to her voice that Darcy knew she was going to try to emulate later.

“Yeah, climbed a hill and maybe broke a rib. I’m kind of a wimp in the first place and climbing these stairs probably would have taken it out of me. Not the exercise type.” Darcy grazed a hand over the sore spot as she mentioned it. The ghosting of her fingers tingled her whole side.

“Well if Thor is going to be a fixture in your life, might want to pencil in some cardio.” Black widow gave her a good natured laugh. “Maybe some pushups, too. You never know when you need to grab a fire escape and climb.” The second part sounded less like a joke and more like genuine advice. Darcy opened the door and slipped into the hallway. “I’m in the security room. Lots of camerasat all levels, and yet none in the stairwell—oh, hello. Oh you are cute. Go ahead, it’s safe. Not seeing any activity up here.”

The floor was much warmer than those icy labs. That was another possibility for the cats being so pissed. They were pretty fuzzy, though. Darcy would not mind a fur coat right about now. The wet bottoms of her rolled up jeans were still keeping her nice and half frozen.  
“Okay, stop at the corner.” The spy sounded distracted.

“Can you see me now?” The joke did nothing to drive away the spike of fear in her chest.

“Yeah, I just want to check something. I’ll be right back on. Switching to Hawkeye.”

“Okay.”  Darcy was left loking at her toes again. She was going to have words with that short, pushy nail lady about the supposed durability of this pedicure. It could not even stand up to one measly super spy mission.

“You’re clear to go. Turn left at this corner.” Black Widow was back in her ear.”

“Feeling a little like PacMan here.” Darcy moved across the hall.

“Don’t worry. I’m keeping you away from the ghosts.”

“Not really worried about ghosts.” Ahead, the lights were flickering. “Well, maybe a little afraid of ghosts. Bad guys forgot to pay a power bill?” She did not bother to keep the tremor out of her voice. When the agent did not immediately reply, Darcy paused and grabbed for the wall. “Widow tell me there are not such things as ghosts.”

“Sorry. Sorry. No ghosts. I think they are sound something downstairs to mess with the power and flush out Hawkeye.” Black Widow was deeply concerned about her team. It made Darcy feel bad about distracting Steve by getting all beat up.

“So is the American Horror story murder hallway safe or not?”

“Ah!” Darcy seemed to have the woman’s attention again. Sure, Darcy’s walk through the hallway was probably glorified babysitting in the agent’s mind, but Darcy was absolutely feeling like the weakest link in the chain. She would feel much safer next to the lady with some guns. Surely she had guns. “Okay, go slowly. Turn right down this hallway. The flicker is messing up my visual on you. So go slowly.”

“Yeah, being too speedy is not really a problem right now.” Darcy mumbled as she began hobbling along with her umbrella. Three whole steps into murder hallway and the lights were out. Darcy backed against the wall with her hand clasped to her mouth muffling the scream. Any possible low light vision had been ruined by the flickering lights. She was blind. Her heart pounded in her ears and she closed her useless eyes.

Behind her eyelids were ghosts, metal fire monsters, aliens, the girl from The Ring, and every scary thing in American Horror Story. She was cancelling Netflix when she got home. Only two of those things were real, but she could not convince herself that it was impossible for ghosts to exist. Loki had opened up the sky to aliens and she had tased a god. She bit at the glove until she could hear again. Black Widow was yelling at her.

“—me? Darcy reply. Hawkeye reply. Lights out. Electricity out. I’m trying to get the backup online. Report status.”

“Fire. Cap just came through the door. Office guy must have tripped something.” The unfamiliar male voice came over the comm. Darcy opened her eyes to the dark hallway. She could see a little now. No company. “Fine. Hall’s dark.” There was a glimmer near the end of the hall followed by a distant crunch.

“Oh good. See anyone down the hall?” Black Widow’s relief stole Darcy away from conjuring up images of monsters that might make crunching sounds.

“It’s really dark, Black Widow. There is an awful noise at the end of the hall.” The last syllable came out as a choaked squeak.  Another crack had interrupted her. Darcy pressed closer to the wall.

“I’m coming out there.” Black Widow grunted then cursed into the comm. “The door is locked on me. No manual open. I think I hear that, D.”

“Widow, I think these guys did know we were coming.” The man must have been Hawkeye.

“That’s why it was so empty.”

Darcy felt a corner with her finger. She worked her way into a recess where she found a locked door, but still felt less exposed.

“Cap and I are clear down here. I’m trying to find the ‘go’ switch.

Steve and Hawkeye were floors below. Widow was locked in a blacked out security room. Why would there be not manual lock? Why would a door default to locked from the inside in a power outage. There were probably just monitor. Servers elsewhere. Darcy was feeling very exposed. “Bait—“, Darcy hated that another scream caught in her throat cut her off. She bit the non-gloved hand this time. The crack sounded much louder than the previous ones.

Hawkeye cursed over the comm right before a crash was cut off on his end.

Widow scoffed. “Get up here now. We did it. Fell right into the stupid—“ She stopped. The door cracked again

“On it. Already clearing—“, Hawkeye paused to caugh. “Clearing the way to the stairwell. Debris down here. It’s mostly gravel.  Nearly buried us when we opened the door to the stairwell.”

“How close are you, D?” Black Widow prompted Darcy to looke down the hall. Dim lights flickered at the end of the hall. There was a black gate that separated the hall from the atrium with the cracking glass door. It reminded her of gated area in prisons and mental hospitals on TV.

“Almost at some gate.” She sucked in a breath as a second crack echoed down the hall. “Oh good, they’re almost here.”

“Ignore it, D.” Widow’s voice was firm and cut through Darcy’s panic. “Are you at a supply closet?”

The light from her phone lit up the doorway. She read the plaque off to Widow. “I’m at Guest Office Two.”

“Okay. Closer to the black gate across the hall there is a supply closet. Wait two seconds after you hear the next crash and run.” Widow instructed her.”

“I can’t do that!” Until now, Darcy did not think it was physically possible for her to get more freaked out. “Those guys are coming in. You guys are all trained for this. You have guns and super strength and shiels and shit. Know what I have? An umbrella.” She waved it for emphasis.

A chuckle from Hawkeye caught her off guard. Widow shushed him, but he continued. “ I like her. I have a bow, by the way. You can add that to the list.”

“Darcy, listen to me.” Widow’s voice was low, “You can do this. You aren’t through. They don’t know you’re here. They planned for us. We are all pinned in. You are not. They don’t have a plan for you. When Thor and Jane had an important mission, who did they call, Darcy? Because it wasn’t us.”

As if to highlight the fact. The control dish brushed her side as she peered at the glass door. Dim lights still moved behind the black gate. They must have been prepping for the next ram or something. The thought gave her a strange sense of comfort as it pushed out htoughts of monsters and made her thingk of humans making their way though the door. They must have  been prepping for the nxt ram. Probably some stupid high tech ram that  needed calibration. The lights got brighter. It was coming. Darcy could make out one door across the hall. Then the one closer to the gated entryway came into view. That must be the supply closet.

“One. Two.” Darcy was moving was still on her lips. The patter of her bare feet running on the cold floor echoed in her ears.

“Go now. Duck in and lock the door behind you.” The lights were dim again when Darcy got the door open. Darcy did not feel like she could talk until the door was locked. “Darcy? Did you make it?” How long had Widow been asking?

“Copy. Good. Made it. Copy.” Darcy panted and the pain in her side flared up, “Copy. Copy.”

“Okay, sit tight. I’m trying to pull power from the backup to get this door back online. Hawkeye, status?”

Darcy tuned out and got a look around the closet in phone light. Mop bucket. Spigot. Tower of cleaning supplies and lightbulbs. No huge guns that could be used to defend herself in the event that they decided to check the ‘L1 Supply and Maintenance’ room. It was large enough that she could lay down. Darcy did not intend to use the place for naps. Instead, she got up and paced the room to let her brain roam.

The lock on this room was a simple door knob lock. Just enough to keep employees from hoarding lightbulbs. She could maybe wedge the mop betweenthe shelf and industrial sink leg to block off the door. It would be not much more protection against people who had ramming power to get through the door of a secret lair in lockdown.

Too bad it was not like the high school janitor closet. Then it would have useful things like confiscated cherry bombs, chains,  and airhorns she could use to cause some distraction---or set off accidently and announce to the school that you were making out in the closet between periods. It was a nice distractiong thought.

“They’re in.” Widow’s voice drew her out of the memory and stopped the jumble of focus.

“Almost cleared.” Hawkeye sounded out of breath.

“I can’ty make out what they’re saying.” Widow’s frustration beld through the clacking of keystrokes. Pressed against the door, Darcy could not hear what was going on outside over Hawkeye’s reply. Darcy ripped out the earbud and pressed back to listen again.

“—online so we can get the one in security. Then we can lockdown.”

Darcy though she heard the word. “Stairs.” Somewhere after that.

“Widow, they’re trying to get after you.” Darcy panicked when she did not hear back, but relaxed when she remembered dropping the earpiece. She brushed hands over the floor looking for them.

“—no, only want the shield one. Everyone—“, Darcy stopped her search and strained to hear the rest. She ‘bullet’ and ‘bomb’.

“Lost my earpiece.” Darcy whispered into the glove. “I’m trying something.” Darcy did not yet know _what_ she was going to try, but had a feeling that the bomb would be sufficient motivation. They were not going to blow up the site—possibly the only one available—where Jane would return to earth. No way. She spotted a canister on the ground and the ‘something’ came to her.

Once the umbrella was attached to the mop bucket, Darcy quietly unlocked the door. There was a very loud metallic sound outside. The ‘click’ of her door was lost to the din. A peek revealed people cutting at the black gate. No one looked up from the cutting. So Darcy searched the atrium behind them through her crack in the door. There was not much visible beyond the smoke and sparks of the cutting metal. No one within her line of sight appeared to be extracting Widow from some security room. Darcy’s figurative feet were about to join her literal ones in getting cold.

_Let the superheroes take care of it._

The gate dropped to the floor and sparked her into action. Darcy’s hand had rolled the bug bomb before the rest of her was aware that her ‘something’ plan was back on.

“IED!” Gunshots. She had not been prepared for so many guns firing at the same time. By the time she got her hands up to cover her ears, there was only a ringing that her hands were unable to block. An explosion was the last thing she heard before the ringing had started. The white nose was unbalancing and made rolling the umbrella-mop bucket combo into the hall shield side out more of a challenge than it should have been. The smoke had spread faster than expected. A jolt of fear and a cough pushed the bucket out into the hall more than her ‘plan’.

Lights that had been bobbing around with the infiltrators’’ movements now focused on her umbrella. The fake shield flew into the air, fabric shot to hell, and disappeared in the billowing smoke. She was planning to try the ‘laser to the eyes’ trick. However, using the laser in this smoke would point them directly to her. There was also the danger of sticking any part of her body into the hall of bullets. Firing stopped and the lights dissipated.

Darcy decided to go for it.

The black gate was close enough to be visible in the smoke. Darcy crouched and did the best run she could manage while dealing with the pain in her side. It was not far before hot pain tore into her feet. Throwing off her already precarious balance. Her body was projected to fall on her face. Forearms saved her face, but at the cost of more searing pain.

Everything hurt.

Darcy’s vision blurred from pain and smoke. Each breath contained less air. One teary eye spotted the light on the ground near her. A familiar face was on the phone screen above the text: Jane Calling.

_Shit._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no good reason for the slow update. Fallout New Vegas finally caught my attention enough to drag me in and now I have to do ALL THE QUESTS.
> 
> Steve's pov next. Almost done with the first arc.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Way to call me out DarknessEvernight13. This one's for you.

The hand Steve had just wiped his face with was black with dust and sweat.

 

“This piece is loose. We should be able to get through now.” Clint was testing the chunk of sheet rock and plaster to see if he could lift it without all the other debris falling on them. “I can’t believe we’ve been stealth op’ed while on a stealth op.”

 

“We’ll have to let Hill know.” Steve said through gritted teeth.

 

“Yeah. We can tell her to stop opening emails from Nigerian princes.” Clint snorted at his own joke. Then began to climb through the hole in the debris pile.

 

“What?” Steve jogged his memory, but nothing in that sentence made sense.

 

“Email. Spam.” Clint

 

"What?" The word clicked between Steve's teeth.

 

"Email. Spam."

 

"Mail about canned meat?" Steve spoke slowly. He knew it was wrong, but simply saying 'I don't get it." did not always get fast responses. Dumbfounded stares had gotten very old very fast around other operatives in S.H.I.E.L.D. used to others being highly acquainted with the newest tech. The Avengers were much the same. However, at least with Tony pumping out new tech weekly, he was not the only one left out of the know. Nat had gotten to the point where she just started explaining. Even when he did catch a reference, the consideration was appreciated.

 

"No." Hawkeye sounded offended. "Emails trying to get your money were pretty popular in the early days of email. All that send me your bank info type stuff."

 

Clint held the sheet rock as Steve climbed through the opening and found rocks and rubble throughout the stairwell to the top. It would not slow them much.

 

"Particularly from Nigerian princes promising their wealth in exchange for your social security number and such.”

 

"Oh" Steve crushed the remnants of a wall that blocked the stairs. "Widow told me never to read the spam folder."

 

"Holy shit. You don't get spam." Hawkeye was slack jawed.

 

Steve shrugged as he passed the shocked blond.

 

"Kids these days."

 

The light conversation helped calm Steve. He knew Clint was filtering the information on the comm to him. Maybe not purposefully, but that might have been because he did not know anything about Steve's history with Darcy.

 

"Seriously though, how did you make it so long without an email address?"

 

"I think the army gave me one. I never used it." Steve did seem to remember being just barely saved by Bucky several times when he happened to mention highly important dates that were only mentioned in email.

 

The stairwell door was blocked by slabs of concrete with rebar sticking out as if guarding the entrance.

 

"Little help?" Steve looked over his shoulder to see Clint catching up to him and pulling some tool from his quiver. The archer used the black disc to pry away rocks keeping the main slab in place.

 

"What is that?" he thing did not look like something meant to be a crowbar.

 

"Eh, frisbee mine?" Hawkeye pulled out the thing to look at it. As if this was the first time he had really given it a thought.

 

"Seriously, Clint?" Steve moved to take the possible mine from the archer, but for a human, Clint's reflexes were fast.

 

"It's unarmed. Stark Tech. Totally safe." Clint shoved the thing back in to free up the main slab for Steve to move. Reluctantly, Steve shoved the concrete out of the way and jerked open the door.

 

Clint gave the black disc a last look before putting it away. "Probably. Hell, it might have been a gag gift from Christmas from Tony. It's Widow's. Got mixed up in my stuff. Guess it just fit too well right at the bottom of my quiver to go anywhere else."

 

Their discussion on small explosives was cut off by gun fire. Clint had to yell after Steve when the super soldier had missed the hall leading to the entrance. Steve began taking deep and deliberate breaths. Keeping a calm head had to remain a priority. Clint slowed at the sound of shattered glass. 

 

The only glass Steve remembered had been reinforced glass like that used in aquariums to hold back thousands of gallons of water. Not easily broken. Who were these people?

 

A sharp scent had Steve's hand reaching to pull off a stripe from his uniform. The filtering cloth was one of Tony's upgrades he  _did_  know about. Steve checked on Clint and found the Avenger had secured his own mask. The blonde then rolled a metal orb around the corner and took out a phone.  Steve could make out a mess of orange bodies moving around on the display. They appeared to be moving away from them. Hawkeye said as much and then Steve ran into the smoke. Gunshots deafened him fading the chaotic sound. The pang of chest pain at the bullet ridden umbrella went ignored.

 

She was going to  _try something_.

 

Steve caught a glimpse of Natasha carrying a bleeding Darcy into the security office before diving into the mess of intruders. If he hit the intruders a little harder than he might usual non supers, Hawkeye certainly didn't mention it.

 

They seemed to have an unfair advantage because of the bug bomb. Men were woozy and some went down tripping over their selves trying to maneuver out of the way—which made smashing into several of them a bit unfair. Hawkeye trailed him after the cleanup. So much planning and the intruders had not planned for any of the Avengers getting out. Whoever sent the crew had under estimated them grossly. Maybe they had not known it would be a team of Avengers? Steve saw the door to security was closed again. With all the infiltrators now fallen, light was dim. So he grabbed one of the flashlights off of them. 

 

 

When the last one was taken down Steve walked back to the atrium. Smoke had that had overtaken the place dissipated. The flashlight lit the broken glass of the door and then frosted glass. Hawkeye directed his light up and Steve saw the broken ceiling light. Sweeping the flashlight back to the black gate revealed a line of blood from the broken glass to the security office. Steve rapped on the door when the handle did not budge. He braced himself for what he would find. Tried to console himself with the thought that he had not really known Darcy that well. That they had not gotten close. That pining was not love. 

 

"Yeah, Widow, it's us." Steve heard behind him. 

 

A buzz and the door knob moved under Steve's hand. Natasha was sitting in a chair with Darcy's feet in her lap. Darcy sat in another chair covered in her own blood with her hands raised--as if in surrender. She smiled lazily at Steve when he walked in. 

 

"What are you doing?" Steve asked Natasha. As he got closer, he noticed glass in the wounds on Darcy's arms. One was more bloody than the other. Natasha was pulling out a large shard from the brunette's foot.

 

"Waiting around for a couple of high fives." Darcy's voice sounded relaxed. Way too relaxed.

 

"Oh, you gave her the good stuff." Clint said as he walked and gave Darcy a high five. 

 

Steve reached out too late. "Don't"

 

"S'Okay. I can't feel anything." Darcy sang at him and wiggled the mostly clean hand. "Steve! Your glove saved me!"

 

"I've almost got her feet cleaned up." Natasha announced. "No major arteries hit in her arm as far I can tell. The bleeding seems to have stopped in her arms. I'm going to leave them as is, so I don't start up the bleeding again."

 

"Everyone is taken care of outside." Hawkeye pointed out the door. 

 

"I set off a bug bomb. And it turned into an actual bomb, Steve." Darcy yelled at him in a whispered tone. “An actual bomb.”

 

"Ah, so the smoke was you?" Clint gave her another high five and she began to giggle.

 

"I did the umbrella gag." Darcy laughed. "I rolled out that bug bomb and they flipped out!” She stretched the word into a squeaking laugh. ”Bullets everywhere." Her smile drooped and turned thoughtful. "Ah. I'm going to need a new umbrella."

 

"We'll get you a new umbrella." Natasha reassured her as she pulled out another shard and wiped down Darcy's foot. "Maybe Stark can fix up something a little more bullet proof." Her attention turned to Steve. "She caused a distraction. They thought you had gotten out and started shooting. I think one of them shot the bug bomb. A piece of it must have hit the light above and shattered it. I think Darcy here was a little shell shocked and ran out into the glass and smoke."

 

"We need to get topside and get a message out." Steve thumbed toward the door. "She okay to be carried?"

 

"I think so." Natasha gave Darcy's feet a final wipe down with what Steve finally recognized as the guard's shirt. The guard was still out cold and decidedly less clothed than Steve had left him. His pants were crumpled up already covered in blood. 

 

"Here." Clint held out a protein drink out Darcy and appeared to be holding a sack lunch. The archer shrugged when he noticed Steve's questioning look. "Gonna steal his pants, might as well steal his lunch."

 

"Yeah, and bug bomb here lost a lot of blood." Natasha tore up the shirt and began to wrap Darcy's feet while Clint held the carton up and Darcy drank. Steve was feeling very useless. He went out into the hall and followed the trail to the umbrella he had jumped over earlier. He had not noticed the shot up mop bucket. His glove was on the floor and a quick scouring of the supply closet found him the ear piece. 

 

When it came time to go up, Steve was quick to volunteer to be the one to carry Darcy. Of course the super soldier was to be the one to carry her anyway, with the lithe ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. operatives checking if the path was clear ahead. Volunteering still made him feel more useful. Clint took out the two guards at the under bridge entryway and scouted for more. As soon as they were in satellite communication, Natasha had gotten back on the line with Hill to give her the update.

 

"Hey look!" Darcy pointed across the creek. "No one stole my boots."

 

"How very lucky." Steve managed a smile. She did not sound as spirited as she had been in the security office. Her adrenaline must have been waning. They needed to get the tech part done. As much as he wanted Darcy taken to safety, only she knew how to work the equipment. "What do we do now?"

 

"We need to get up there." Darcy motioned to the bridge with her head. "Get these spikes in the ground." The equipment was in her lap. Darcy's two elbows carefully held them in place. Her pose was a little too much like a corpse.

 

Clint waved them up. "All right then, let's do it." Steve bounded up the steep embankment, not bothering to follow Clint's more reasonable assent. 

 

"Okay. Stick these here," Darcy tapped at a spike that was touching her cheek. "into the ground by that bridge. Gotta get the vines clear and attach the wiry thingies." 

 

Clint took the spikes and Steve gently put Darcy on the ground in a sitting position facing the bridge. Steve jogged over to Clint and took the other spike from him. At first the vines were difficult to tear away, but once he figured out where the weak points were he had his post quickly stripped of them. When he returned to Darcy she gave him a thumbs up and held out the little laser gun she had shined in his face an hour ago. 

 

"Point this at the air above the bridge." Steve passed it off to Clint. 

 

"When it raises seventeen degrees, let me know." Darcy instructed and then started turning knobs on the dish device. Her movements were punctuated by winces and sharp cries. After a minute of otherwise silence, she broke it with a curse. "Shit."

 

"What's wrong?" Steve crouched to be on her level. He felt the heat off of her from the rising fever. She was not feeling it because of the drugs, but her body was starting to show the effects. 

 

"I can't--" She fiddled with the knob some more. "I can't see what I'm doing."

 

"Let me help." Steve reached around her hands to hold the dish. She tensed up and he held his breath. She was acting a lot calmer than she felt because of the drug Natasha had given her. The breath she exhaled cooled his hands. 

 

"Okay." Darcy loosed her grip on the device and Steve pulled it out of her hands.  "Turn the knob until the thing reads out one-two-five-zero."

 

 Steve did as she told and the thing whirred to life. The air around the poles began to shimmer. Hawkeye looked back at him and reached out a hand gesturing for him to keep going.

 

"Okay. I set it up. Now what?" Steve turned to her. She was leaning on his shoulder and watching what he did.

 

"Top button when Hawkeye gives the go ahead." She murmured into his shoulder. Her eyes were now closed. "When Jane comes through, bottom button. Then dial it down to zero."

 

"Hey, stay awake." Steve rolled his shoulder a bit to jostle her. 

 

"Can't" Darcy whined. Steve looked back at Clint to see him waving.

 

"We're good, Cap." He heard Hawkeye as he gave a thumbs up.

 

"Thanks." Steve spoke into the glove before tapping the top button. At first, nothing happened. He was about to press it again when Darcy stopped him.

 

"No, don't." Her hand brushed his. "It's opening a freaking rip in space. Give it a second."

 

Seconds passed and the humming grew louder. Clint started to back up toward them. 

 

"This a good thing?" Steve heard over the comm.

 

"I believe it's working." It was not as reassuring as Steve had intended.

 

"Oh, well that makes me feel safer." Hawkeye said when he was within earshot.

 

The shimmering arced into electricity between the poles. The bridge ends were suddenly connected as a road appeared over the gully then a brunette woman in jeans and a t-shirt followed by a Norse god. Jane was scanning the area and walking toward them.

 

"Off." Darcy lifted her head and waved at Jane. The woman stopped dead in her tracks and her eyes widened. 

 

"Darcy!." She yelled and began running to them.

 

"I'm okay." Darcy's voice was weak. She nudged Steve, "Tell her I'm okay."

 

Steve relayed the message and Darcy began laughing.  
  
"What?"

 

"Now you get to be the messenger."

 

Steve smiled at her and Natasha came up from the brush as the field dissipated. 

 

"We need a secure place to talk and Darcy needs aid."

 

Steve lifted her up into his arms and turned toward where the van was stowed. 

 

"Yes, thank you, Darcy." Thor smiled at her. "We have much to discuss. Darcy, thank you so much for your help. If there is anything I can do in the future--"

 

"Yeah." Darcy smiled up at him. "Hey, someone should take my car."

 

Darcy whispered something in his ear that Steve could not hear, but Thor smiled at her and walked below the bridge. Steve carried Darcy back to the van and Jane and Hawkeye followed. Jane was talking to Darcy and keeping her awake in the back. 

 

"Holy Shit." Suddenly interrupted the tech babble between the two women.

 

Steve looked out and saw Thor carrying the two large cats from the cages. 

 

"Lynxes?" Jane squeaked. "I thought they were bobcats."

 

"Yeah. Fuzzy wild cats. I thought they were smaller too." Darcy had slurred speech, they really needed to get going.

 

"Bobcats are smaller. Those are freaking Lynxes, Darcy!"

 

Thor opened the door to the gated back portion of the van. "They fought well. I like these cats."

 

"We need to do tests on them to check what they were doing to them." Natasha came over the comm. 

 

"We get kitties, Steve!" Darcy yell-whispered again into his ear. 

 

Steve stifled his frustration and amusement and began driving to the hideout where Hill was waiting.


	9. Chapter 9

Darcy faded in and out.

 

Darcy told Jane to take a shower.

 

Darcy informed everyone that the large cat at her feet was now named “Shaggy”.

 

Darcy received a kiss on the forehead from the Black Widow and a promise to keep Steve away and keep a secret.

 

Darcy did not want to see Steve at this particular moment. Charts everywhere. Papers with secrets.

 

Darcy drank lime jello sludg and noticed there were no papers lying around. Just monitors. Everywhere.

 

Darcy found watching the steady jumps and beeps coming out of the monitors soothing.

 

Darcy was certain her feet were going to scream in pain as soon as “not S.H.I.E.L.D.” took down her pain medication and she had to walk to the bathroom.

 

Darcy heard Shaggy purr the Star Spangled Banner.

 

Darcy suspected Jane had drugged her jello.

 

Darcy was cruising through the air over a beach and letting the warm air ruffle her hair.


End file.
